Washington
\nThe United States has seized approximately $1 billion in Iran\u2019s cryptocurrency assets, nearly double the government\u2019s previous estimate.
\nSpeaking on Friday at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. believes Iran had been stealing about $400 to $500 million a month through sanctions evasion. \u201cThis is money that\u2019s been stolen from the Iranian people,\u201d Bessent said.
\n\u201cI believe that we have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto,\u201d Bessent told Fox News\u2019 Larry Kudlow. \u201cJust outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and might not realize that their wallet has been grabbed.\u201d
\nOn April 29, Bessent said the U.S. had seized \u201cnearly $500 million\u201d in Iranian crypto assets.
\n\u201cWe are freezing bank accounts everywhere. More importantly, we are making people less willing to deal with the regime,\u201d Bessent said at the time.
\nIn August 2025, Bessent said the U.S. government would not be buying bitcoin for its strategic reserve but would continue to use confiscated assets to build it up. He reaffirmed that front this past January.
\n\u201cThe policy of this government is to add seized bitcoin to our digital asset reserve after the damages are done,\u201d Bessent said earlier this year. \u201cSo the bitcoin reserve, our view, was first you have to stop selling, which we have done, and then we can add the assets and asset forfeitures.\u201d
\nThe U.S. government holds approximately 328,372 BTC, according to Arkham, making it the largest known state holder of Bitcoin in the world. At current prices, that\u2019s worth just over $24 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington The United States has seized approximately $1 billion in Iran\u2019s cryptocurrency assets, nearly double the government\u2019s previous estimate. Speaking on Friday at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. believes Iran had been stealing about $400 to $500 million a month through sanctions evasion. \u201cThis is money that\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n